Director of Strategic Partnerships, Rice Global Paris Center

Special Instructions to Applicants

Please attach a resume and cover letter in the Supporting Documents section of the application, preferably in a PDF format to avoid any formatting issues.

Boasting a 300-acre tree-lined campus in Houston, Texas, Rice University is ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has a 6-to-1 undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio, and a residential college system, which supports students intellectually, emotionally and culturally through social events, intramural sports, student plays, lecture series, courses and student government. Developing close-knit, diverse college communities is a strong campus tradition, which is why Rice is highly ranked for best quality of life and best value among private universities.

Rice is also a wonderful place to work. Rice faculty, staff and students share values that are essential to our success as a healthy community. Those values guide our decisions and behaviors and shape Rice’s culture. They come through in the way we treat each other and the welcome we extend to our visitors. These values can be recalled simply by our name — RICE — Responsibility, Integrity, Community and Excellence.

The director of strategic partnerships
, housed within Rice Global and based at the Rice Global Paris Center
, serves a critical role in advancing Rice University’s global engagement strategy by developing, managing, and strengthening high-impact institutional partnerships, with a primary focus on Europe and additional engagement in Asia and other regions. Reporting to the vice president for global strategy and working closely with the executive director of rice global
, the Director leads partnership strategy across the Rice Global portfolio, ensuring alignment with institutional priorities.

Key responsibilities include cultivating relationships with academic, industry, and corporate partners identified by the Vice President of Global Strategy; overseeing partnership-driven projects and events at the Paris Center and beyond; and directly supporting the planning and execution of conferences and convenings in collaboration with Paris Center leadership and staff. The role also includes coordination with regional leaders, including close partnership with the Rice Global India Director to support strategic initiatives in India, and contributes directly to Rice University’s objectives to expand its global presence, research collaborations, and international impact.

The ideal candidate is a strategic, relationship-oriented professional with experience developing and managing international partnerships across academia, industry, and corporate sectors, particularly in Europe and/or Asia. They are highly collaborative, self-starting, culturally fluent, and adept at advancing institutional priorities through partnership-driven projects, events, and high-level engagement.

This position is based in Paris, France, and candidates must be legally able to work in France. The director of strategic partnerships will be hired by Rice Global Paris, a French association, and this position is a full-time, in-person, CDI contract including a trial period. Rice Global will not consider candidates who require visa sponsorship to work in France.

This position is based in Paris, France, and may require occasional evening or weekend availability for program-related events.

This position will require international travel on a limited basis, primarily from Paris to other European countries as needed.

80,000 - 90,000 EUR annually

• Bachelor’s Degree
• 4+ years experience in higher education or related field
• Skills:
  • Strong knowledge of American higher education institutions, as well as higher education systems and institutions globally.
  • Ability to identify new opportunities for Rice Global and bring them to VPGR for analysis
  • Excellent oral and written communication skills
  • Advanced analytical and problem solving skills
  • Marketing and communications acumen
  • Fluency in French and English

• A master’s degree or higher in a relevant field is strongly…